Promises Like Piecrust
by surestsmile
Summary: [CoM ingame] You've been lying to me since the day you said, 'Hello'. Vexen's experiment comes to terms with his brief life.


Promises Like Piecrust

_"Thanks."_

"Was it a real promise? To me? Tell me, Namine."

They were sitting down, waiting for Sora. Around them, the crystal flowers remained unopened, giving the room an eerie, chilly feel. He stole a look at her, and she squirmed uncomfortably. "Namine," he repeated again, harsher this time.

"I...suppose I owe you an answer," she whispered. "It isn't. The memory was mine, I just...altered it. To give it to you." He stared at her, and she continued to speak softly, "Do you hate me?"

He didn't know what to say. _Yes? Yes, I hate you? I hate you for what you've done to me?_ It just seemed natural to lash out at her, let out the anger that ruled him, powered him for the brief time that was his life.

"Why did you bring me back?" His voice was hoarse, like what he remembered when he first...became. Everything about him was borrowed, and it hurt. Even the memory, the memory Vexen had stolen...it was something Riku wouldn't have wanted to remember anyway.

He was a creation of unwanted things.

She had broken his heart so easily. Stopped him because he was going to hurt Sora, even though everything he had done was for her. When she re-made his heart, the first time, she must have deliberately weakened it. Out of fear that he would hurt her? Hurt Sora? That he would become too powerful with a strong heart?

Pale blue eyes blinked sadly at him, before looking down on pale, closed fists. "I'm...I'm sorry about that. But Sora needed help." Fingers curled tightly into the white fabric. Everything about her was about gentle colours, about light. Next to Namine, he felt like the darkness itself. He felt dirty. Used.

"And I'm that help?"

"You...you were the only one I could count on-"

"You mean the only one you could manipulate successfully," he bit out. "Well, it worked. I fell in love with you. I thought I was Riku. I thought we had something before...when you remade my heart. But then you gave it back, with all my other memories...and that love was gone."

He laughed, shaking his head. "You've been lying ever since the day you said, 'Hello' to me."

"I'm sorry."

"That's all you can say. 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry.'" he muttered bitterly, getting up and brushing off her hand as she tried to reach for him.

"I'm not your knight, Namine. I never was. There was never anything between the two of us, at all."

When she said, "Riku," in that soft, pleading voice of hers, he interrupted her fiercely, borrowed green eyes blazing.

"Don't call me that. I'm not him."

She looked down again, and he felt nothing but hatred and disgust for her. Manipulating him, acting so weak when she actually had power, more power than he'll ever possess. More power than he could ever even dream of having. It felt like he was hit in the face when he thought that. He was weaker than everybody in the Castle, weaker than this girl.

Useless.

The sounds and tremors of fighting that occurred on the floor slowly ceased, and somehow, he knew that Sora had won. It was unquestionable. The hero always wins.

"Ri-"

He shot her another look, and she fell silent. Slowly, she got up, and stood beside him, and surprised him by gently taking his hand. He didn't move away, but he didn't try to hold hers either.

"Will I see you again?" she said, looking at the doorway, waiting for Sora.

Her hand was warm, and for a moment, the memory of him grasping hers in a pledge to protect her flashed in his mind. The yearning to just let go of his anger and hatred nudged him, telling him to forgive and forget. Namine was willing to give him another chance, after all.

But he shook his head, slowly, to chase the memory away, and he released her hand.

"No." He whispered with finality. "Fare well, Namine."

And then Sora appeared, the confident smirk pasted on his weary face, heavy keyblade weighed on one bloody shoulder.

* * *

"Do you hate them?"

He lifted his head from his arms, looking up at the redhead. Axel's green eyes gleamed even in the white-ness of the castle rooms, and his grin looked dangerous. But he was too tired to care if the Unknown wanted to kill him or not.

"Yes, I do," he said dully.

"How much deeper do you think you can go, hmmm?"

"I'm a black hole. How deep do you think I can go?"

Axel looked at him incredulously, and then dramatically threw his head back, clutched his sides and laughed. "You kill me, you really do." And his grin grew toothy, like a fox who just had a meal of five chickens.

"So...you've always wanted to be somebody, huh? What if you absorbed someone? Maybe that will fill that emptiness inside of you."

He was willing to try anything once. It was better than relying on old tricks and failed moves. Better than being Riku. Better than being Namine's knight.

He had enough of empty promises.

_"From now on, I'll bring you good luck. I'll keep you safe."_

He shoved the memory away.


End file.
